2011–12 Rugby Pro D2 season

2011–12 Pro D2
Countries France
DateAugust 2011 – 27 May 2012
ChampionsGrenoble
Runners-upPau
PromotedGrenoble
Mont-de-Marsan
RelegatedBourgoin
Périgueux
Matches played243
Top point scorerFrance Maxime Petitjean (406)
Official website
www.lnr.fr

The 2011–12 Rugby Pro D2 was the second-level French rugby union club competition, behind the Top 14, for the 2011–12 season. It ran alongside the 2011–12 Top 14 competition; both competitions are operated by the Ligue Nationale de Rugby (LNR).

Grenoble claimed the automatic promotion spot as league champions, and Mont-de-Marsan earned the second promotion spot by winning a playoff among the next four teams. Béziers and Périgueux finished in the two bottom spots, which would normally lead to automatic relegation to Fédérale 1. However, Béziers were spared the drop when Bourgoin were forcibly relegated to Fédérale 1 for financial reasons.[1]

Teams

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Location of teams in Rugby Pro D2 2011–12
Club City Stadium
Pays d'Aix RC Aix-en-Provence (Bouches-du-Rhône) Stade Maurice David
SC Albi Albi (Tarn) Stadium Municipal d'Albi
FC Auch Auch (Gers) Stade du Moulias
Stade Aurillacois Aurillac (Cantal) Stade Jean Alric
AS Béziers Hérault Béziers (Hérault) Stade de la Méditerranée
Bourgoin-Jallieu Bourgoin-Jallieu (Isère) Stade Pierre Rajon
US Carcassonne Carcassonne (Aude) Stade Albert Domec
US Dax Dax (Landes) Stade Maurice Boyau
FC Grenoble Grenoble (Isère) Stade Lesdiguières
La Rochelle La Rochelle (Charente-Maritime) Stade Marcel-Deflandre
Stade Montois Mont-de-Marsan (Landes) Stade Guy Boniface
RC Narbonne Narbonne (Aude) Parc des Sports Et de l'Amitié
Oyonnax Rugby Oyonnax (Ain) Stade Charles-Mathon
Section Paloise Pau (Pyrénées-Atlantiques) Stade du Hameau
CA Périgueux Périgueux (Dordogne) Stade Francis-Rongiéras
Tarbes Pyrénées Rugby Tarbes (Hautes-Pyrénées) Stade Maurice Trélut

Competition format

The top team at the end of the regular season (after all the teams played one another twice, once at home, once away), is declared champion and earns a spot in the next Top 14 season. Teams ranked second to fifth compete in promotion playoffs, with the semifinals being played at the home ground of the higher-ranked team. The final is then played on neutral ground, and the winner earned the second ticket to the next Top 14.

The LNR uses a slightly different bonus points system from that used in most other rugby competitions. It trialled a new system in 2007–08 explicitly designed to prevent a losing team from earning more than one bonus point in a match,[2] a system that also made it impossible for either team to earn a bonus point in a drawn match. LNR chose to continue with this system for subsequent seasons.[3]

France's bonus point system operates as follows:[3]

  • 4 points for a win.
  • 2 points for a draw.
  • 1 "bonus" point for winning while scoring at least 3 more tries than the opponent. This replaces the standard bonus point for scoring 4 tries regardless of the match result.
  • 1 "bonus" point for losing by 7 points (or less).

Season table

2011–12 Rugby Pro D2 Table
Club Played Won Drawn Lost Points for Points against Diff Bonus points Points Head-to-head
1 Grenoble 30 22 1 7 727 398 +329 15 105
2 Pau 30 19 1 10 602 536 +66 9 87
3 Stade Montois 30 19 0 11 569 453 +116 8 84
4 Dax 30 18 3 9 590 508 +82 6 84
5 La Rochelle 30 18 0 12 667 563 +104 9 81
6 Carcassonne 30 17 2 11 659 616 +43 9 81
7 Albi 30 14 0 16 659 616 +43 16 72
8 Oyonnax 30 14 1 15 594 589 +5 11 69
9 Bourgoin 30 14 0 16 620 671 −51 10 66
10 Auch 30 14 1 15 489 557 −68 7 65
11 Aix-en-Provence 30 12 1 17 658 681 −23 13 63
12 Tarbes 30 13 0 17 561 646 −85 9 61
13 Aurillac 30 12 2 16 570 610 −40 8 60
14 Narbonne 30 12 0 18 550 654 −104 11 59
15 Béziers 30 9 0 21 499 673 −174 10 46
16 Périgueux 30 7 0 23 516 713 −197 13 41
Key to colors
     Champions automatically promoted to Top 14
     Winner of playoffs between second- through fifth-place teams for the second promotion place
     Remaining participants in promotion playoffs
     Two teams relegated to Fédérale 1 – Bourgoin for financial reasons, and Périgueux as bottom finisher.

Updated as of 21 May 2012[4]

Results

Results table

The home team is listed in the left column.

Clubs AIX ALB AUC AUR BÉZ BOU CAR DAX GRE MDM NAR OYO PAU PÉR ROC TAR
Aix 35-27 33-23 18-18 20-13 23-25 22-26 29-36 17-15 24-16 29-36 39-13 27-9 19-8 31-17 39-32
Albi 19-16 14-12 23-10 34-6 41-17 10-13 33-9 19-18 14-15 35-22 25-3 25-6 27-9 31-15 35-29
Auch 28-10 15-9 20-19 21-13 25-15 15-10 6-24 6-13 15-9 14-12 39-17 14-17 25-22 21-25 25-22
Aurillac 19-28 32-25 20-21 19-13 36-17 20-15 26-14 6-6 26-12 18-3 18-9 18-19 15-9 35-14 37-18
Béziers 18-16 18-15 23-6 28-20 18-11 13-18 6-15 11-16 19-11 27-21 13-35 20-30 21-13 26-34 10-15
Bourgoin 13-19 47-18 25-10 29-15 9-3 33-30 27-12 23-29 - 23-20 24-23 21-26 23-16 18-21 21-9
Carcassonne 24-20 25-19 22-18 28-21 47-45 18-25 34-20 16-43 25-30 6-12 21-19 34-16 24-20 28-16 27-21
Dax 25-18 15-9 18-18 24-19 23-11 28-12 23-23 - 20-13 21-16 38-14 27-9 24-15 12-6 22-13
Grenoble 39-9 55-10 42-3 27-13 47-15 30-13 17-12 18-16 22-16 32-26 24-9 24-18 34-6 35-3 21-3
Mont-de-Marsan 9-6 24-3 8-3 40-3 16-6 27-22 20-15 15-6 12-16 28-18 43-0 27-16 26-0 22-13 19-16
Narbonne 16-9 32-25 9-12 29-12 20-13 39-32 12-14 18-22 12-40 9-13 24-20 15-6 21-19 28-22 29-14
Oyonnax 31-19 18-19 15-13 29-12 43-19 25-12 13-13 18-22 23-6 34-12 22-16 26-0 43-7 25-18 13-9
Pau 31-22 37-14 16-3 40-20 25-16 26-10 28-18 9-9 18-16 24-15 32-3 - 26-14 17-12 28-27
Périgueux 39-38 33-27 9-11 22-15 33-26 18-25 7-39 23-18 9-11 19-27 21-9 13-20 16-22 32-20 21-22
La Rochelle 35-3 25-6 34-25 26-16 22-3 33-19 22-9 21-13 18-16 24-15 54-10 26-16 13-6 23-17 41-7
Tarbes 22-20 22-19 32-22 11-12 18-26 23-16 16-25 23-16 15-9 15-16 19-13 17-6 18-17 32-26 21-15


Home win Draw Home defeat

Promotion playoffs

All times CEST.

Semi-finals

19 May 2012
15:10
Pau16 – 14La Rochelle
Try: Vainqueur 35' c
Con: Manca (1/1)
Pen: Manca (3) 26', 33', 56'		Try: Ferrou 75' m
Pen: Fauque (3) 18', 30', 43'
Stade du Hameau, Pau
Attendance: 12,500[5]
Referee: Laurent Cardona
20 May 2012
18:00
Mont-de-Marsan24 – 20Dax
Try: Chedal 18' m
Mazzonetto 47' c
Con: Vignau-Tuquet (1/2)
Pen: Vignau-Tuquet (4) 3', 5', 26', 74'		Try: Mirande (2) 63' c, 78' c
Con: Lacoste (2/2)
Pen: Lacoste (2) 46', 66'
Stade Guy Boniface, Mont-de-Marsan
Attendance: 8,783[6]
Referee: Patrick Péchambert

Final

27 May 2012
14:00
Pau20 – 29Mont-de-Marsan
Try: Furnat 5' c
Larrieu 60' c
Con: Manca (2/2)
Pen: Manca (2) 23', 43'		Try: Jágr (2) 25' c, 45' c
Con: Vignau-Tuquet (2/2)
Pen: Vignau-Tuquet (3) 4', 13', 34'
Arrayet (2) 67', 73'
Stade Chaban-Delmas, Bordeaux
Attendance: 23,928 [7]
Referee: Jean Rebollal

See also

References

  1. ^ Moriarty, Ian (9 August 2012). "Bourgoin wilt under financial pressure". ESPN Scrum. Retrieved 13 September 2012.
  2. ^ "French try out new bonus point system". Planet-Rugby.com. 2007-06-27. Archived from the original on 2007-09-29. Retrieved 2007-08-13.
  3. ^ a b "Article 330, Section 3.2. Points "terrain"" (PDF). Règlements de la Ligue Nationale de Rugby 2008/2009, Chapitre 2 : Règlement sportif du Championnat de France Professionnel (in French). Ligue Nationale de Rugby. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2012-02-17. Retrieved 2008-08-27.
  4. ^ "Pro D2 : 2011/2012 - results, fixtures, tables - Rugby - It's rugby". Itsrugby.co.uk. Retrieved 2011-11-07.
  5. ^ "Pau – La Rochelle, Pro D2 2011-2012 – Démi-finales" (in French). L'Équipe. 2012-05-19. Archived from the original on May 21, 2012. Retrieved 2012-06-07.
  6. ^ "Mont-de-Marsan – Dax, Pro D2 2011-2012 – Démi-finales" (in French). L'Équipe. 2012-05-20. Archived from the original on May 22, 2012. Retrieved 2012-06-07.
  7. ^ "Pau – Mont-de-Marsan, Pro D2 2011-2012 – Finale" (in French). L'Équipe. 2012-05-27. Archived from the original on May 30, 2012. Retrieved 2012-06-07.